Police impounded my car.

Hankey89

I was driving my partners car today when I was pulled over by the police. He escorted me to his car and told me I have no insurance. I stated I did have insurance, he then pointed to a computer screen just showing my partners name, and not mine.

He then proceeded to ask for my keys, advised the car would be impounded and I would get a letter with a 300 pound fine and 6 points, and sent me on my 3 mile walk home.

I eventually got home, got in my own car and drove to my partners work to take her to the police station with all her documents so she could find out where her cars being held. On arrival the police stated that I was infact insured on her car.

They did state that an old insurance company of my partners still seemed to have a policy in place... we rang them up and they confirmed their must have been a glitch on the system, so in effect my partner had two policy running at once.

However in my mind, and the insurance companies this doesn't negate me being insured on her car, and it isn't illegal to have two policies. The police over the phone are suggesting its the insurers fault, and that they won't pay the impound cost.

I am picking up the car tomorrow morning and looking at a charge of 200 pounds.

Any thoughts on who is liable?

pinkshoes

Hankey89 wrote: »

I was driving my partners car today when I was pulled over by the police. He escorted me to his car and told me I have no insurance. I stated I did have insurance, he then pointed to a computer screen just showing my partners name, and not mine.

He then proceeded to ask for my keys, advised the car would be impounded and I would get a letter with a 300 pound fine and 6 points, and sent me on my 3 mile walk home.

I eventually got home, got in my own car and drove to my partners work to take her to the police station with all her documents so she could find out where her cars being held. On arrival the police stated that I was infact insured on her car.

They did state that an old insurance company of my partners still seemed to have a policy in place... we rang them up and they confirmed their must have been a glitch on the system, so in effect my partner had two policy running at once.

However in my mind, and the insurance companies this doesn't negate me being insured on her car, and it isn't illegal to have two policies. The police over the phone are suggesting its the insurers fault, and that they won't pay the impound cost.

I am picking up the car tomorrow morning and looking at a charge of 200 pounds.

Any thoughts on who is liable?

How does the police data base work?

Surely when they brought up the old policy with insurance company X that said you were NOT insured, you could tell them that policy was incorrect, and the insurance was through company Y. Did they not then look up that policy?

The police no doubt get lots of people claiming to be insured on a different policy that doesn't exist...

Or was the insurance policy with the same company? In which case the insurance company are at fault.

waamo

This might be better posted on the insurance board. There are some insurance insiders there.

Hankey89

pinkshoes wrote: »

How does the police data base work?

Surely when they brought up the old policy with insurance company X that said you were NOT insured, you could tell them that policy was incorrect, and the insurance was through company Y. Did they not then look up that policy?

The police no doubt get lots of people claiming to be insured on a different policy that doesn't exist...

Or was the insurance policy with the same company? In which case the insurance company are at fault.

The insurance policy he brought up was with a company my partner was with about 4 years ago (direct line), she hasn't paid towards that policy in 4 years and is currently with Admiral.

The police station confirmed that their is an active insurance with Admiral, they could confirm this in the station. So I am not sure why the police officer in the car wasn't able to?

In the police station they then stated their is an old policy still running. My partner spoke to direct line who did confirm this was a "glitch" on the system and they would remove it. They did say it doesn't have any impact on the other insurance.

I am just not sure how in the police station they could see I was insured straight away, but in the police care he wasn't able to.

Surely if I am insured, I shouldn't be expected to pay an impound charge? Based on the police system not showing the right information.

pinkshoes

This all sounds rather odd.

Why did the police not just phone up Admiral and confirm you are on the policy??

Was the car taxed?

Hankey89

pinkshoes wrote: »

This all sounds rather odd.

Why did the police not just phone up Admiral and confirm you are on the policy??

Was the car taxed?

It was my girlfriends car, we don't live together. So I couldn't off the top of my head confirm the name of the insurance company. All I could say is, my girlfriend has insured me - this was incorrect, as confirmed by police station and admiral insurance.

He looked on his computer and said he could see I was insured before April this year, but that I wasn't currently insured.

I then thought she must have made the mistake when renewing with the same insurance company, and i didn't really want to accuse a police officer of being incompetent. I couldn't afford an arrest on my record due to my job.

Everyone on the car is up to date and legal, including me being insured.

AndyMc.....

What time did this happen?

AndyMc.....

pinkshoes wrote: »

This all sounds rather odd.

Why did the police not just phone up Admiral and confirm you are on the policy??

Was the car taxed?

They should have called the MIB.

photome

AndyMc..... wrote: »

They should have called the MIB.

In that case should they be paying the impound cost

Fosterdog

Why did they pull you over in the first place? If they were just checking cars with ANPR it would have flagged up to them as insured (for your girlfriend), their in car systems don't give the name of the persons covered just that the car is insured so that can't be the reason for them pulling you over. They must have had another reason to do that.

Couldn't you phone your girlfriend while you were pulled over to double check the details with her? If she was able to leave work to take documents to the police station then surely she could have answered the phone and given you the details while you were still with the police and they could have confirmed everything without needing to impound your (or her) car. If you couldn't give them the correct information at the side of the road then they had to impound the car as they had no other way to verify your insurance. Of course they could see it on the main computer at the police station because they had then been provided with the correct policy so knew who to contact or who to look it up with.

Hankey89

I didn't think it was a legal requirement to carry insurance documents or a mobile phone.

You seem to be assuming a lot. Police can pull you over for any reason, as I was told on the phone to them. Maybe he saw a young male driving a polo and didn't think I matched with the "insured driver".

And when we initially went into the police station, our details were found without having to provide documentation. They were baffled about what was going on.

The police officer didn't give me the choice of using his phone to ring my partner or insurance company. He went purely off the incorrect information on his screen, and you seem to be suggesting I am at fault.